Archives

After the last presidential election the internet went wild, creating a polarity that damaged friendships, split families, and even destroyed marriages. For many people it was disturbing but for people like me, someone that worked in social media all day long, it was nothing short of traumatic. Every day I had to sift through the growing stream of virtual sound bites to find good curation sources. Every day I saw both sides of the argument get stronger and stronger, and frankly it drained me. Three months after the election I had to go entirely off the grid for four days. I realized my mind had become polluted. I was chronically tired, angry, sad, stressed and experiencing a lot of other emotions at the same time. I had to come up with a way to manage my time online that didn’t damage my energy and my emotional wellbeing. Literally, I had to find a way to clear the fog in my head. As we protect ourselves against the virus, many friends are home spending a lot more time in social media – and their minds are becoming polluted as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or left – the techniques used […]

Throwing a shout out to my friend and PR guru Julia Angelen Joy for her new PR Method Guide. A lot of small businesses can’t afford PR retainers right now, and really need marketing assistance so this is really helpful. (And affordable at just $59.) Here’s the scoop: The PR Method Guide is an affordable public relations guide for small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches and creatives so they can create an easy-to-build plan for authentic promotion for personal brands, small business owners, and entrepreneurs. The NEW Work It Out Pages will help: Organize PR goals, branding and other visual assets Plan paid, earned, shared and owned media Create a social media channel strategy Draft a content calendar Create effective HARO responses Purchase and download The PR Method Guide here.

Rapidly changing conditions and recommendations are dramatically impacting the direction of many companies right now and many businesses are still in crisis communications mode. Many businesses, however, are moving past crisis mode and are closed or have rapidly reduced their operation. The question now becomes – If you’ve already adapted to the “new normal” where your business is concerned there is a lot you can do to strengthen your brand and your reputation. Here are some tips to help you navigate these uncharted waters. First and foremost, focus on the greater good. Aside from messages about your business that your customers require you should focus on creating content that is helpful in some way. This is not the time for sales messages. What aspects of your business can be helpful to everyone, not just your customers? Brainstorm creative, easy ways you can contribute through relevant, non-promotional content. For example: Restaurants providing daily recipes from their menu that are easy to make at home. Dermatologists offering remedies for chapped hands. An improv consultant creating short videos on using improv tools to reduce stress. Engage, engage, engage. Now is the time to engage one-on-one with you customers and the world at large. Get […]

For many of us, the impact of the coronavirus here in the U.S. right now is more emotional than physical. Although that ratio of concern will change dramatically over the next few days as many more of us become ill, there are tools in marketing that can help us alleviate some of the issues around mental health many of us are experiencing. Feelings of panic (translated into buying massive amounts of toilet paper), anxiety, fear and all the other emotions are causing us lost sleep at a minimum. Words are an important component of everyone’s toolkit that can be used for good. This is a no-brainer for carefully constructed messages from organizations and leaders, and people like me are employed to review these messages to the nth degree. But what about when we talk to each other? Or post on social media? We can all do our part to help calm each other by using words that invoke comfort – rather than fear. It seems small, but it can really help convert anxiety into action. (If you’re looking for more on that transformation here’s a great blog post from GoodTherapy.org.) Before I get to the actual words, those of us […]

Learning about SEO is something that every marketer, blogger or business person trying to advertise their brand needs to do. SEO is one of the most important segments of digital marketing and without it, you can’t expect great results. This is why more and more people try to master the art of writing SEO friendly content and using this technique to rank higher on Google. Despite best efforts there are still many common SEO misconceptions. This article will break down the 6 most common mistakes and teach you how to do the right thing instead. Let’s take a closer look.

If you’re browsing a company’s website these days, chances are likely a chat frame will pop up in your window. You’ll typically be greeted by a friendly photo and a “Hello there! How can I help you today?” Welcome to the era of the chatbot. This popular marketing trend is here to stay, and if you’re not already using one, you’re probably missing out. Want proof? Fifty-four percent of people say businesses need to transform how they engage with customers. Organizations will integrate chatbot technology across channels for 25% of customer service operations by 2020. By 2022, chatbots are predicted to save businesses $8 billion per year. The chatbot market is projected to reach $1.25 billion by 2025. From customer service to information sharing to sales, there are incredible possibilities for incorporating a chatbot into your marketing strategy – and no coding experience required! With some time investment up front, a chatbot can offer your clients and prospects a level of engagement that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Here are some reasons to get on board: Customers want personalization, and chatbots deliver. Today, customers simply expect personalized service. Though automation may seem contrary to that idea, chatbots can tailor content to […]

Instagram has nearly 1 billion active users around the world. Like other social media platforms, Instagram is full of features to entertain and engage users. The modern social media channel reveals Instagram updates frequently, and keeping up with social media changes is a challenge. So lets us find some of the most important Instagram features that benefit both users and marketers. Since its launch, Instagram has added many features that benefit both brands and personal users with paid ads as well as organic posts. Let’s dive deep into Instagram’s classic features and new updates. Instagram Dark Mode Users can now enable dark mode for Instagram. Instagram users with certain operating systems such as iOS 13 and Android 10 are now experiencing the darker version of Instagram on their mobile devices. If you have these versions, you can now enable and disable through display themes. Restrict Instagram has launched a new feature called Restrict that will allow users to block interactions from users. Restrict feature is different from blocking someone because the profile which has been blocked will know that they are blocked. If a user sends a hateful comment to your account, no one will be able to see it […]

Technology is growing and advancing at a rapid rate. Things that we never thought would exist are now part of our daily lives. From the invention of the home computer, the smart phone, and now the rise of AI machines, technology is evolving exponentially. One of the areas of tech that is growing the fastest is mobile technology. Over 80% of Americans own a smartphone as of February 2019 and the world of technology has improved with the growth in the number of users. Companies large and small are catering to the mobile platform with new developments. The customer experience is being vastly improved to be quick, easy, and painless. This is adding to the already existing convenience mobile technology offers. As the platform of choice shifts towards mobile in a big way, new trends will emerge. Over the next two years, the mobile industry will roll out many new improvements. Here are a few that we expect to see by 2020. More Proactive Apps Artificial intelligence might sound like a far-fetched idea, but the technology is already in use throughout mobile apps. AI is helping customers get what they want within a matter of seconds, all thanks to intelligent […]

Customers are human. They are complex and changeable and yearn to feel valued and understood. As marketers, we tend to focus exclusively on demographic characteristics to lump them into groups to target. But the wants, needs, interests and values of a customer cannot be determined from this simple means of segmentation. Customer-first marketing uses a customer-centric approach and goes much deeper than traditional methods to glean a clearer understanding of what consumers care about and feel strongly connected to. Customer-first marketing focuses more on customer behaviors than on business goals and desires. It’s not an easy shift to make but certainly a necessary one. To increase brand loyalty and relevance in this competitive digital era, you have to show customers that you “get” them. They crave this empathy and want to align themselves with brands who value them. And that calls for engagement beyond simply what your company has to offer them. It means understanding what buyers like and care about and then interacting with those interests, often without mentioning your products/services. Personalizing content and campaigns to consumer preferences leads to increased acquisition rates, engagement and buyer loyalty. And loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as […]